F. Gary Gray on the Verge of Becoming ‘Law Abiding’

Early in the week the news broke that Frank Darabont had dropped out as director of Law Abiding Citizen the new legal thriller starring Gerard Butler. The film’s start date was moved from October to December. This is the first film to be produced by Butler’s production company Evil Twins and right now it’s not been smooth sailing.

The latest is that F. Gary Gray (pictured above directing Vin Diesel in A Man Apart) is negotiating to direct the film. Gray directed The Italian Job in which Mini Coopers dominated the action and the actors. The director also has a Marvin Gay biopic in the works. He’s no Frank Darabont who was a natural fit with the prison backdrop of Law Abiding Citizen. Gray was supposed to direct the film Armoured starring Eric Bana for Millennium films, but left the project. Avi Lerner, Millennium’s head, told Daily Variety that the film is now dead.

Back to Law Abiding Citizen. There’s not a lot of information about the film. Right now we know the plot of the Kurt Wimmer script is a grieving husband and father who turns vigilante when his wife and daughter’s killer is set free in a plea deal brokered by Butler’s character, an assistant district attorney. There’s news that Jamie Foxx is in negotiations to play the vigilante. Catherine Zeta-Jones is still listed as rumored to be in the film.

The loss of Darabont left the film in limbo and it remains to be seen if the hiring of Gray can pull the film together. One trivia note: This will be the first time that Gerard Butler, who studied to be a lawyer, can say he played one on film.